Running
by Fiery-chan
Summary: Kouzumi, Koji gets mad at the guys and runs off, Zoe goes after him but a message from Ophanimon causes her to vanish without a trace. She must find the "connection" whatever that is, and koji's gunna havta help her, if he can find her that is. r/r *2 up*
1. Default Chapter

"Running"

By Fiery-chan

A/N: This is my first Koji/Zoe. And yes I'm using English names. Deal. After the success of "Cruising the Caribbean," I decided to try something new. Read and enjoy! And review! BTW, there MAY be some Takuya and JP bashing, but I LOVE them, so don't take it wrong. Be prepared, the elements may be popping in like they usually do. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon; it belongs to my idol, Akiyoshi Hongo. Although I'd love to own a certain little wolf. 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

[Italian translations] I speak Italian so I know what it all means.

Chapter 1: The Message

"Zoe! You are so slow! Hurry up!" Takuya cried.

"Can't we stop, my feet hurt?" Zoe asked.

"No! We have to keep going. Unless you feel like being attacked, we just can't stop in the middle of a strange forest."

"Stopping can't hurt Takuya. Besides, we could all use a rest." Koji replied, sitting down against the trunk of a tree. Takuya sighed.

"Fine, whatever." 

            Zoe sat down next to Koji and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Koji, my feet were killing me."

"No problem, Takuya just has to learn to think of others." Koji replied.

"Yeah, but it was nice of you to stick up for me Koji." 

"Sure, whatever. Hey, you cold?" Koji asked, seeing Zoe shiver.

"Just a bit." Zoe replied. Koji took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

"Here, wear this." He said. (Yes, I somewhat borrowed that from "Bizarre Bazaar" because that's one of my fav scenes). Zoe pulled on the jacket and smiled.

"Grazie, Koji." [Thanks, Koji].   

"That reminds me, you lived in Italy, what's it like?" Koji asked. "I've always wanted to go there."

"Oh its beautiful! The food is wonderful, the scenery is wonderful, the people are wonderful, everything is wonderful!" Zoe cried,

"That's nice, how are your feet doing?"

"Better, thanks."

"Hey Koji!" Takuya cried. "Stop flirting with Zoe and get over here!" Koji shot a death glare at Takuya and walked towards him. "You know exactly what I'm talking about lover boy." Takuya said, low enough so that only Koji could hear. Koji pretended not to hear and looked the other way. Takuya grinned. "I'll give you this, she IS pretty. Ok, let's keep going."

            The group continued walking, and began to struggle, as the forest grew thicker. 

"This might be a problem." Zoe said, eyeing the thick branches. "But it also may be hard for others to get through as well. Let's camp out here for the night."

"Good idea Z." JP commented. "C'mon Tommy, let's go get some firewood." The two boys walked off leaving the other three alone.

"So now what?" Zoe asked.

"We set up camp." Takuya replied.

"Yeah, let's clear out a spot for the fire." Koji added.

            The three worked at making a small clearing and were finished by the time the two boys returned. 

"Guess what we found!" Tommy exclaimed. "A meat apple tree!" He dumped a dozen meat apples onto the ground. 

"Meraviglioso!" [Wonderful!] Zoe cried. "I'm starving."

"Me too!" JP added.

"But JP, you ate three on the way here." Tommy said. 

"Ew! Raw?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, well I was hungry, sorry guys."

"It's ok bud. But still, raw. That's so gross." Takuya replied. "Well, let's get this fire started!" Once the fire was prepared, they all roasted their meat apples, but Takuya burnt his. "Aw, man!" 

"Here Takuya, take one of mine." Zoe said, handing him a cooked meat apple. "It's chicken cutlet." 

"Thanks Zoe." 

"Prego!" [You're welcome!]

***

            Later that evening, Zoe, Tommy, Neemon, and Bokomon went out to look for berries to eat for dessert leaving the three guys alone.

"So Koji, you got a crush on Zoe?" JP asked.

Koji glared at him and turned the other way.

"That's a yes!" Takuya cried. "C'mon Koj, don't be ashamed by it, we all like her."

"Well who else would you like, she is the only girl." Koji pointed out.  

"Thank you captain obvious!" JP exclaimed.

"She still has your jacket." Takuya added.

"Yeah, so? She was cold, I was courteous."

"Courteous my ass. You just wanna get on her good side." JP said.

"You know what?" Koji asked standing up. "So what if I like her. She's pretty, and nice, ok, so I do like her, now leave me alone! I don't need to deal with your bullshit!" Koji walked off and headed deep into the forest.

"Uh oh, Zoe and the others aren't going to like this." Takuya said.

"You're tellin me." JP replied. "Oh well, just means more food for us!"

***

"Come on Zoe! Let's try over here!" Tommy cried running off to the left. Zoe laughed.

"I'm coming Tommy, slow down!" 

While the two picked berries, Tommy turned to Zoe and asked her a question.

"Zoe, do you like Koji?"

"Sure, I like all of you."

"No, I mean really like him, like you want to marry him." Zoe blushed.

'How can a child his age know about this stuff?'

"Um, I don't know Tommy."

"Well, you should get married, you already get along well, better than with JP and Takuya."

"It's a little early fir marriage." Zoe replied.

"No it's not! My mom told me a story called Romeo and Juliet and they got married the day after they met. My mom called it love at first sight." 

'So that's where he gets it from.'

"But would you marry him?" Tommy asked.

"Um… yeah, I guess so."

"I knew it! You do like him! You should tell him or you'll never know if he likes you too."

"Tommy, you are wise beyond your years." Zoe said with a smile.

"Yep! That's what my mom said too!" Neemon and Bokomon walked up to them, ending the conversation.

"Are you to ready to head back?" Bokomon asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Zoe replied. The four headed back to the campsite with berries to devour for dessert.

***

"What do you mean he walked off?" Zoe asked, yelling.

"He got mad at something we said and walked off that way." Takuya replied; pointing in the direction Koji headed.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"About five minutes."

"Why didn't you go after him?"

"The guy does martial arts, kendo I think, he would have whipped out butts!" Takuya cried.

"I can't believe you two. Morons, I'm surrounded by complete and utter morons." Zoe walked over to a large tree, and sat down on the ground, leaning her back against the cool bark. "Koji…" She whispered, pulling on the jacket that she still wore, wrapping it around her tighter. "Why?" 

            Later that evening after the berries were finished and everything was cleaned up, the others all fell asleep, but Zoe stayed awake, watching for signs of Koji. She was hoping he'd return, walking through the trees with a grin on his face, carrying a bouquet of beautiful and exotic digital flowers and giving them to Zoe, asking for forgiveness for his rude behavior. Zoe would smile and forgive him, like she always would, he would wrap his arms around her and they would ride off out of the forest on a white stallion, leaving the others in the dust.

"Yeah right, girl, quit dreaming. That is so un-Koji-like behavior that it would never happen in a million years. But he was really nice to me earlier today and that was definitely un-Koji-like behavior. Oh well, a girl can dream." Zoe said with a smile. "But Koji, where are you? What did Takuya and JP say to you that got you so mad Koji-kun?" 

            Zoe stood up and walked off in the direction Takuya said Koji had gone. She was determined to find him and wouldn't come back unless Koji was walking beside her.

***

            Zoe walked through the thick forest, tripping over protruding roots and being scratched by thorns and branches.

"Koji! Koji where are you?" Zoe yelled. 

Then, for an unknown reason, her D-Tector started to glow. Zoe took it out of her pocket and held in up in front of her. 

"You must find the connection Zoe Orimoto." Ophanimon said. A bright light exploded from her D-Tector and engulfed Zoe. When the light faded, she was gone.

A/N: That's chapter 1 of my newest fic. I hope you enjoyed it. Do you know where Zoe was taken? And what connection is Ophanimon talking about? Guesses? Let me know. You can email me or just put it in your review. Emails are better because that way I can respond and let you know if you're right. Whizz20o0@aol.com. Hint: Koji is somehow involved in the "connection" and will play a crucial role later. And some old faces will pop up too! Review!

Luv'n'stuff!

Fiery    


	2. Beware of Falling Piximon

Running

By Fiery-chan

A/N: Glad the first chapter went over so well. Thanks to the reviewers! Although I must say, I got mixed feelings in the reviews. Some people said my characters were OOC and others said they weren't. One review said that the characters were nothing like they are in the show and I must disagree with this. My characters are quite life like and I strive to keep the equality between the fiction and the television. So either the reviewer knows absolutely NOTHING about digimon or was HIGH when they were reading my story. 

Disclaimer: I own all for I am the almighty elemental of fire.

The Element of Fire: Yeah right, get over yourself.

Fiery: Hey! Ok, so I don't own anything. Ok, happy now?

Fire: Very.

Chapter 2: Beware of Falling Piximon

            Koji walked through the dense forest.

"Damn bastards." He muttered. He continued walking, smacking away tree branches in frustration. Koji sighed and dropped to the ground.

"I get mad way too easily."

"Koji! Koji, where are you?" A voice called out.

"Zoe?" He asked, standing up and heading in the direction of the sound.

"You must find the connection." Ophanimon said from Zoe's D-Tector. A bright light surrounded her and she was gone. Koji gasped.

"Zoe! Zoe! Oh what the hell just happened? Zoe!" Koji ran as fast as he could back to the campsite and found the guys all asleep.

"Crap. Get up now!" He yelled. He ran to each one and shook them. They all awoke from their slumbers.

"Koji? What the hell? Normal people are asleep at this hour." JP said. "Oh wait, we're a bunch of kids who can transform into digital monsters and have to save the day from evil digital monsters. We've surpassed normal. Proceed." Koji ignored his comment and grabbed everyone's attention with just two words.

"Zoe vanished."

***

"Where am I?" Zoe asked, sitting up. She found that she was on a large couch in someone's apartment. She had a blanket draped over her and a pillow under her head. Zoe gasped and quickly felt her pocket. Her D-Tector was back in there. Zoe sighed. If she had lost that, she never would be able to get out of here, wherever here is.

"Oh, hey you're awake." A boy of about 16 said. He walked up to her and grinned. "I though you were gonna be in some sort of a coma." He had cherry eyes and soft brown hair that fell softly down his face, to just above his eyebrows. "My name is Jayson Hallowell. Son to business executive Thomas Hallowell and kindergarten teacher Kari Hallowell. However, my parents are divorced and my mother remarried and took the name of her second husband, but I did not allow him to adopt me and change my name because I respect my father and want to keep his name."

"I see." Zoe said nodding. _Although I really don't need to know all of this._

"Ha! Here I am rambling right after you just woke up. Bryon!" Another boy walked in, he looked to be about 13 or 14. He had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes.    

"Hey, what's up?" Bryon asked. "Oh, you're awake." He added, noticing Zoe. She nodded.

"Yeah, watch her while I go find mom." Jayson replied. Bryon nodded and Jayson ran off to find his mother.

"So, my name is Bryon. But you already know that. I'm the son of the Odaiba Daily's chief editor TK Takaishi and his first wife Catherine who he met in France when he was younger. She still lives there. But now I'm Kari's step son because she adopted me." 

"Oh, I see." _Once again, didn't need to know their life story._

"You're totally lost aren't you?" Bryon said. Zoe blushed and nodded. Bryon laughed. "Thought so. Hey, you know you're cute when you blush." This caused Zoe to blush even redder, and Bryon laughed again. 

"Bryon, are you tormenting her?" Jayson asked returning to the room. A tall woman followed behind him. Her hair and eyes were the same shade as Jayson's and her hair was pulled into a bun. She wore blue jeans and a pink three quarter sleeved shirt. She walked with elegance and Zoe couldn't help but admire her.

"Hello. My name is Kari Takaishi; call me Kari. You're probably wondering how on earth you got here. Well, since this is Jayson's story, he can tell it."

"Yes, thank you mother. Well it all began when I was heading to my uncle Tai and aunt Sora's house. I had to deliver something for mom. After completing my task, I was walking home, strolling lazily along the street, wasting time, you know, like a normal teen."

"Thinking about Yolei's daughter." Coughed Bryon who was in return thwacked with a pillow by Jayson.

"Anyway, so I'm walking and I see this blob just lying on the sidewalk. I walk over to it and it's a girl, you Zoe. So me being the gentleman I am, I pick you up and carry you home. Then I get inside, my mom freaks out and cleans you all up, and then you laid unconscious on the couch until you finally woke up. Then I told my story about how it all began when I was heading to my uncle Tai and aunt Sora's house." At this point, Bryon smacked Jayson in the back of the head and they all laughed.

"So how exactly did you wind up unconscious on the sidewalk?" Bryon asked.

"It's a long story." Zoe said, putting her hand into her pocket and running her fingers over her purple d-tector.

"We have time, start talking." Bryon said. Kari sighed at her stepson's rudeness and left the room, shaking her head.

"You wouldn't understand. It's very confusing, I lead a very confusing life." Zoe said quietly.

"So do we, were the sons of-" Bryon was cut off as Jayson smacked his hand over his mouth. 

"Why don't you leave the girl alone for now Bryon, go to your room." Bryon growled at his brother and left the room. 

"Please excuse my brother he can be quite rude at times." Jayson said apologetically.

"It's ok." Zoe replied with a smile. 

"Good, now how about some food?" Jayson stood up and led Zoe into the kitchen to get some sandwiches. 

***

"She what?" The other three boys cried in unison.

"You heard me, she vanished." Koji described everything that happened and the boys stood in shock.

"But how? People just don't vanish." Takuya said.

"You're forgetting that were in the digital world Takuya." JP added. Anything can happen. 

"Good point." Takuya replied. "But that still doesn't change anything. We must begin a search and rescue mission!"

"It won't be that easy Takuya. Ophanimon spoke to her through the d-tector. She said Zoe had to find the connection." Koji explained.

"What connection?" Tommy asked. Koji sighed and closed his eyes.

"I wish I knew. This is my fault. Which is why you guys will travel on without me and I'll go find her."

"No way! We're going too!" Takuya cried.

"Yeah! We can help!" Tommy added. 

"Pit bomb!" A voice cried out and a small bomb exploded near them. The boys jumped and turned towards the voice, d-tectors ready. A small, pink, ball of fluff with wings flew down and swooped over their heads before landing on the ground.

"Oh my," Bokomon said, kneeling down on the ground.

"Bokomon you ingrate! You have done a horrible job at training these digidestined."

"I am sorry sir, it was a difficult job, please forgive me!" Bokomon said whining.     

"Digidestined?" Takuya asked.

"Of course, who did you think you were?" The pink ball smacked himself in the head and whacked Bokomon and Neemon with his staff. "You mean you didn't even tell them that they were digidestined? Oh I have work to do tonight." 

"Sorry to break up this little party but who are you?" Koji asked.

"I am Piximon. Digital trainer extraordinaire. I have trained many digidestined, preparing them for the worst this world has to offer and you're the next batch! And after the last bunch completely ignored me and went straight to the four harmonious ones I will not let that happen again!"

"Right….." Takuya said. "So you're going to train us?"

"Yes, you want to be ready for Cerubimon don't you?" 

"Well yeah but-"

"Then it's settled! Follow me!" Piximon said.

"Follow you where?" JP asked.

"To my mansion to train!" 

"It's going to be a long night." Takuya said moaning.

***

"So, what's this long story?" Jayson asked, sitting backwards on his computer chair facing Zoe who sat on his bed. 

_Ring!_

"Oh, hold on a second." Jayson grabbed the phone from its cradle. "Hello? Oh hi Matt. Yeah hold on. TK!!!! Ok, he's coming. There he is, see ya." Jayson grinned. "Sorry about that. So where was I? Oh yeah, the long story." 

"Yeah that." Zoe said quietly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her d-tector. 

"Oh, my, god." Jayson whispered. "It can't be. We've searched so long and it's finally over." He said to himself.

"Excuse me?" Zoe asked. Jayson jumped up and grabbed Zoe's hand, dragging her from the room.

"Come on! Mom! Where are you?" He asked. 

"In the kitchen." Kari yelled. "What's wrong?" 

            Jayson pointed to Zoe's hand, Kari gasped and picked up the phone.

"TK, Matt, assemble the team at our apartment right now." She said quickly before hanging up. Kari then turned to Zoe. "The connection." She whispered. "The prophecy, it all fits. Everyone in the living room now." Kari ordered, sending them all in there, following behind them.

***

"Cleaning my entire mansion, by hand! This shall be your first training exercise, for all of you except you Koji." He said pointing to Koji.

"Why?" Koji asked.

"Because you have a special task, follow me please." Piximon said, flying off with Koji following behind. 

***

            Piximon led Koji to a large steel door that stood at the far end of a stone room. In the center of the room was a circular stone table with what looked like spots for nine cards. 

"You won't be needing that." Said Piximon heading right towards the door. "We are standing in the ruins of an old castle. This castle belonged to an evil vampiric digimon called Myotismon. He is no longer for he was defeated by the digidestined. However he did come back, twice. First as Venomyotismon, and then as Malomyotismon. But now, he is gone for good for each time the digidestined used the powers of their digivices to defeat him. 

            "But this is all beside the point. You will not need the cards that the original digidestined used to open the gate, all you need is you d-tector. Just point it at the gate and Lady Ophanimon will do the rest. And do be sure to say hello to Tai and the others for me."

"Ok, but where will I find them?" Koji asked. 

"How should I know, check everywhere. Highton View Terrace, Odaiba, Kyoto, Tokyo, or a phone book."

"But then won't I need to know their names?" 

"Yeah, try Kamiya, Takaishi, Ishida, Motomiya, Ichijouji, there's a whole bunch of them, just try everything. Good bye Koji Minamoto!" 

            Piximon flew away and Koji was left alone.

"Well, here goes nothing." Koji held his D-tector up to the door and it opened slowly. Koji walked towards it and through to the other side, where he was whisked swiftly into the real world. "Home, feels good. Now to do what I came here for."

A/N: Short, yes I know. And I apologize for not updating I had a serious case of writers block bigger than you would imagine. It was astounding. But anyway, if you scroll up, you will see that beloved Kari mentions a prophecy. Here's the beginning.

_Good and Evil,_

_Day and Night,_

_What once was darkness,_

_Is now light………_

REVIEW! 


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